Gar Lipow wrote:
>
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> No. Because we are nowhere near the ability to win something like this
> nationally.
Or at the state level. Or any other level.
My argument is that this can be won only under radically changed political conditions, and that the change necessary would _not_ be a smooth line but a jump. Hence there will _never_ be a time when it is (a) possible to win single payer at the state (or national) level but (b) _not_ possible to win a national health service.
I've not been able to dream up a good metaphor for this, but try the following.
You are 10 feet underwater. You need either to get to the surface _or_ find a breathing tube 10 ft long which will allow you to breathe at 10 ft under. But all the breathing tubes are not only on land, they are a quarter of a mile away from the shore. Hence the power to get a breathing tube is _also_ the power to get out of the water into the air. Single payer is like that breathing tube. It is as far out of our reach as is a national health service.
Carrol